Incidence of myeloid malignancies by subtype in Hong Kong and comparisons with Asian white men and women in the United States

Data on incidence rates of myeloid malignancies for subtypes based on the World Health Organization (WHO) classification are lacking in Asian populations. We compared age-adjusted incidence rates for 27 myeloid malignancy WHO-defined subtypes in Hong Kong (HK) (2014-2016) with those for Asian and white individuals living in the United States (U.S.) (2010-2016). Except for overall acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (2.23 cases per 100,000) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) (2.10 cases per 100,000), rates of all subtypes were <1 case per 100,000 person-years in HK. Overall rates of AML, myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and MDS/MPN were lower in HK compared to white and Asian individuals in the U.S., but the patterns by specific subtype varied. For these three broad groupings of myeloid malignancies, rates in U.S. Asians were intermediate to those in HK and white individuals in the U.S. These results suggest the possibility of a multifactorial etiology for specific myeloid malignancy subtypes that should be evaluated in future epidemiological studies.